Dave's 1994 1.8 20vt

[daveb142 10]

Small update:

 

So before the dash goes back in, I bought a new heater matrix. Would be just my luck to put it all back together and then the heater matrix **** itself.

 

 

Behr / Hella one so should be alright.

 

I also used the wire wheel to grind back and bare metal any rust on the inner wings before I go to undercoat it all.

 

Then I decided to sort out the rear brake lines. I really didn't fancy lying on the floor under Corrado when we have a ramp available...so I started to put everything back together.

I cleaned up the old brake shields and gave them a coat of paint, and for now I have put on the rear carriers after giving them a refurb along with new rubber bushes. I've just decided to upgrade to mk4 calipers so in the midst of sorting them out.

 

State they were in before:

 

Then I finally put it back down on all four wheels for the first time in a long time!

 

Rear sits quite nicely for just throwing the coilovers in without adjusting them properly

 

Seeing sunlight for the first time in 8 months

 

Now it's currently left on the ramp.

I've removed the rear brake hoses and lines, all of which are to be replaced with braided hoses and copper lines.

I also fitted a new fuel filter whilst there.

 

Hopefully will flare the brake pipes tomorrow or the next day, and get around to putting it all back together so it can actually have some brakes. Also I can now underseal the car and arches, and sort out bits of the exhaust!

 

Hopefully things will start going back together by the end of the week :d

[daveb142 10]

So whilst on the ramp I fitted a new fuel filter, re-did the rear brake lines over the beam and fitted braided hoses.

 

I also sorted out any scabby bits of underseal under the car and then undersealed the whole underneath. Seeing as the inner wings werent protected before and had rust scabs, I removed any rust and then completely undersealed the front arches. Looks much better! Hopefully won't rust any time soon haha.

 

 

Took it off the ramp last week and started re-fitting some bits in the bay. I also enlarged a hole in the bulkhead previously for the wiper loom to go through, so I can route the rest of the engine loom through there and into the scuttle panel.

 

Then I got bored so decided to put the engine in for the last time

 

I also finished off the loom last week, so just chucked this in to try test starting it. (ignore the mess, not taped up and the other engine loom for the corrado is the length of the car! :S )

 

Eager to test start it, I finished work at 9pm, went and got fuel for the Corrado, put the fuel in, topped up the powersteering fluid, filled the engine with oil and connected everything up. I don't think i've ever been more nervous to connect a battery up in my life :lol: I connected the battery and there were no fires, good sign!

 

Turned the ignition on with the coilpacks and injectors unplugged to get oil around the engine and it cranked over! Great. However I noticed the fuel pump wasn't priming..... Tried lots to get it to prime however it didn't. So went home in a right ****y.

 

Went up there again saturday and began digging through the lives and earths and double checking everything. I moved the ECU earth directly to the battery to see if this was the problem, but still nothing. I tried to connect vagcom however it couldn't connect to the host....a bit odd...I now had doubts on the ECU. At this point I also noticed that the throttle body wasn't making any noise on ignition live...

 

I checked and re-checked my connections, put a switch on the fuel pump relay earth trigger to ground which got the fuel pump working, re-connected the plugs however it still wouldn't fire.

It was getting lives to all the right places, however wasn't doing anything. I took a coilpack and plug out, and when cranking it wasn't sparking, although it had power to the coilpacks. With everything else I decided that the ECU was ****. I got my mate who does a bit of auto electrician work to come down to make sure I wasn't being retarded, and he came to the same conclusion that the ECU was naff.

 

Therefore I now need another ECU, great! Especially as this one had a map on it >.

My mates were being helpful as ever too :lol:

 

Anyway, I've now managed to get an ECU sorted which should be here friday. So will update at the end of the weekend regarding that!

 

So with that being a major letdown, I decided to fit the driveshafts, front brake hoses and discs.

 

I've also re-fitted the wings and put the borbets on the front. Needs to be a bit lower still mind...

 

Oh I also managed to pick up a new bonnet release cable, front indicator and SWG scuttle panel from Ian in Bristol! Lifesaver!

 

So things left to do:

 

- Fit ECU and test start

- Retape and loom wrap the engine loom

- Buy a new grommet and fit the engine looms

- Refit everything back into the bay

- Fit coolant expansion tank and coolant hoses

- Make up boost hoses

- Fit intercooler behind the grille

- Put the brakes back together

- Sort the exhaust out

- Fill up with coolant

- Bleed the brakes

- Refit the interior / dash

- Make bracket and refit pedal box

- MOT, TAX and Insurance.

 

Probably more to that too ^

 

Anyway i'm shattered and this probably stopped making sense a long time ago, so will leave it for now.

 

Will update soonish

[seanl82 23]

Good work Dave, looks like you've done a cracking job so far mate. :thumbleft:

[GrahamU 6]

Looking goog Dave

[carrots 1]

looks good

[daveb142 10]

Good work Dave, looks like you've done a cracking job so far mate. :thumbleft:

Thanks Sean! Would have loved to do the bay but gonna do that when I take the car off the road next year for a full respray!

 

Looking goog Dave

Thanks dude!

 

looks good

Cheers man!

 

So litle update, I got another ECU last night and it started first time! :thumbleft:

 

Massive thanks to Stumpy ( Shaun at Devon Decoding) for de-immobilising the ECU very late last night for me! If anyone needs the immobilisor removed locally ( Plymouth ) give him a shout!

 

So all I need now is to buy a load of hoses and get it on the road!

 

(No exhaust, boost hoses or map sensor)

[sexybourbon 0]

Good skills mate

[daveb142 10]

Two updates rolled into one:

So a brief update:

 

 

Because i'm a tit, the engine had to come back out to fit the brake servo etc :lol:

 

Anyway that's all back together and plumbed in now. I've also bought a trackslag downpipe (long story with other one) which is awesome. Chris and Darren at Mr B's Bandies have also been busy making me lots of different bits needed, such as slimline fan brackets for the rad, 25mm engine raisers etc! So that's all in now.

 

I also designed a bracket for the mk4 golf accelerator pedal and a friend welded that onto the pedalbox for me. Whilst there I noticed a crack, so drilled a hole through the end of the crack and welded it up. Put it all back together and all the pedals align nicely which is good!

 

 

I do have minimum room behind the fusebox though haha. Well planned I call it.

 

Haven't uploaded any other pictures yet, but the full dash in back in now, just need the seats and doorcards to go back in. OBDII port is wired into the old location. Ran into problems with the brake setup so having that sorted this week / sourcing other calipers.

 

Lots of parts have been turning up. Should get the intercooler back at the end of next week as i'm having 90 degree bends welded onto it.

 

Off the top of my head, my current list before MOT is:

 

- Fit brakes all round (once I sort issues / get new calipers)

- Make radiator brackets as I've moved it out a bit

- Fill up with coolant / power steering fluid

- Get a reducer welded onto the downpipe to fit the old exhaust for now

- Fit intercooler and mock up boost pipes

- Refit interior

- Get 2 new tyres and a wheel painted ( can wait a few weeks)

- probably loads of niggly bits i've forgotton.

 

 

 

So it's been a busy month!

 

There's been a lot of ordering and new bits turning up. The car's running nicely now with nearly everything connected. Massive thanks to Chris and Darren at Mr B's Bandies for all of the bits and bobs they've done for this conversion! Things ranging from engine raisers to custom bits for the intercooler and so forth! Definitely recommend anyone looking to get any steels banded or bits and bobs made to message them on their facebook!

 

Anyway, ended up having to buy 3 new calipers after realising my 16v ones wouldnt fit and having a **** rear mk4 caliper. But got them, re-painted them to match and put them on.

 

Whilst waiting for new calipers I put some of the interior back in and slightly shortened the mk4 golf gear knob down.

 

Still need to play with the gear linkages a bit as it gets into 2nd and 4th easily but a bit stiff getting into 1st 3rd and 5th!

 

Anyway I got it on the ramp the other week and bled the brakes and clutch. Whilst on the ramp I could also tighten the subframe and any other bolts I had not yet tightened properly.

I got the downpipe back after a reducer was welded onto it and fitted that on saturday. I plumbed all the coolant hoses and such in and for the first time in over a year actually drove the Corrado out of the unit! :thumbup:

 

 

There's a few things I need to sort.

- Get a better hose for the brake servo as it collapses under the vacuum from the engine :lol:

- The wiring for the rad as it turns on when the ignition turns off

- Leak from the fan switch

- re-bleed the brakes as air is still in the system

 

So all that's left to do after that is to get the boost pipes made up, mount the intercooler and radiator and refit everything that's needed. I think.

 

Then MOT time!

 

Found some boost pipes and chucked it together so it would run a bit better, plus I wanted to hear it haha. You can see the mentioned brake servo hose I threw on collapse haha.

Edited August 17, 2014 by daveb142

[Jim 2]

Great skills :) Car is looking and sounding excellent.

[daveb142 10]

Thanks mate! It's getting there :)

[Sean_Jaymo 0]

There is definitely some vacuum in that servo hose! Nice work.

[daveb142 10]

Yeah just a tad! haha thanks man

[daveb142 10]

So, the Corrado passed its MOT today :D

[Sean_Jaymo 0]

As I said before, nice work! Any advisories?

[daveb142 10]

Cheers Sean! Nope :) just had to sort a few things that I didn't pick up on, only silly things like indicator wiring was a bit dodgy and that.

 

Right managed to get some pictures uploaded.

 

Got the intercooler back last night and set about mounting it today. Massive thanks again to Chris and Darren at Mr B's Bandies for the work on the intercooler piping!

 

 

After some set-backs during the week and today, I managed to drive the car to the MOT station! I only had to stop 5 times on the way to re-attach parts of the boost-pipes :lol:

 

Anyway as you know it passed :D The splitter really does make it quite low though...

 

 

When getting out of the car also came across this guy

 

Little **** scratched the roof....

 

Anyway, hopefully i'll tax the car tomorrow if the DVLA arent being **** again.

 

Need to sort the borbets out and do some fine tuning. But overall i'm happy with it :d

[daveb142 10]

Had a few issues so far.

 

Corrado at Edition 38.

 

Before leaving on the back of a recovery lorry :lol:

 

Will update soon.

[daveb142 10]

So funny story..... Got to edition 38, next day car wouldn't start.

 

Vagcom was saying that all of the sensors on the engine were shorting.... bit odd? Anyway I couldn't get it working so it got recovered home. After cutting apart my entire loom, checking all of my connections and finding that they were all fine, it turns out the the main engine loom plug on the back of the fusebox had ever so slightly come out. Therefore the first 3 pins on were not connected! One of these pins was the fuel pump earth trigger wire. As soon as I sorted that, the errors cleared and has been fine ever since! What a bleddy ballache :lol:

 

Haven't done much to the Corrado recently due to working full time. Although one weekend last month I had to pull the engine back out. The bay also needs sorting out at somepoint, however will most likely be when I do the bodywork now.

 

 

Anyway I decided to take the engine out as it was ****ing out oil from the turbo. I couldn't get the turbo off and out from where it was and needed to do the coolant anyway, so pulled the engine out and took the turbo off!

 

 

Anyway it turns out the oil feed line to the turbo had two washers stacked on top of the connector for some reason! Probably something I should have checked... I replaced the washers with new ones, same for the coolant lines in and the oil return gasket was changed at the same time.

 

 

Chucked it all back in, put in fresh coolant, bled the system then drove up the road. I decided to pull in a side street to check the coolant level when the starter motor started engaging. Luckily I was mid parking so turned the engine off. The starter motor was still going mad so I pulled off the battery lead. This was now 11pm and I hadn't eaten all day. All i wanted to do was to go home!

I checked and double checked the connections, all were fine, yet each time I tried connecting the battery it would spark like mad and the starter motor would engage. It was then that I noticed a coolant pipe ****ing out coolant all over the body of the starter motor!

 

****ed off, I called breakdown, managed to sort a recovery for an hours time. Then realised my window was still down, so had the fun task of taking the door card off and using the battery and some spare wire to get it back up. Thinking back to it, all I had to do was fully disconnect the starter motor, but I was so tired I didn't even think lol.

 

Anyway long story short, got home at half 1, replaced the starter motor, coolant hose and coolant during the week and so far all has been good!

 

Have a picture of me on the side of a sliproad having just popped off the hose to the DV :lol:

Edited November 2, 2014 by daveb142

[seanl82 23]

Good to hear it's finally sorted Dave, well done for persevering. There is a plastic bar type thing that slots in along the middle at the back of the fusebox, which looks the plugs in place if you haven't noticed it mate.

[daveb142 10]

Cheers Sean! Yeah seems to be all well for now! So nice to drive atm! And yeah that was In place mate, that's what stopped the plug from falling out, just the top end of it by the clip had been knocked and come out slightly without me noticing haha.

 

Something so simple that I didn't even notice!

[daveb142 10]

Not much to update lately, just been using it as a daily! Bought a new battery which is the correct size, put new bulbs in the clocks and that's about it!

 

I'll most likely be taking this back off the road in february when the tax runs out to start on the bodywork etc. Going to sort the bay out as there's some bits im not happy with, re-do the boost pipes, maybe coolant pipes etc. Also need to replace my cam chain tensioner which I think i'll do quite soon!

 

For anyone with 1.8t's, what sort of oil temperature are you guys getting? mine can sometimes hit 120 degrees :s

 

Anyway, will add some pictures soon!

[robrado974 1]

Glad it's up and running again mate , I'm surprised I haven't seen you about yet .

[daveb142 10]

Thanks Rob! Likewise haha. I've been around....although mostly working!

 

Might be starting on the bodywork beginning of february....we shall see.

[robrado974 1]

I'm about in mine , mostly weekends and the occasional evening . Who will be doing the bodywork Dave ? .

[daveb142 10]

A mate of mine :)

 

Not much going on with the Corrado lately! just being used as a daily for now and enjoying driving it! Fortunately most of the silly issues have been sorted :lol:

 

Looking likely to be taken off the road at the end of January (when the tax runs out) and having bodywork and respray done. Have got a list of things I want to do / change at the same time.

One of the main things being tyre sizes up front, needs less stretch!

 

 

Really want to sort the ride height and get center caps for the borbets...

 

Anyway actually washed it "properly" for once

 

I had always thought the clocks were a bit dim....turns out only one bulb worked :lol: so sorted that the other week which means I can actually see the gauges.

 

Then last weekend I got speaking to a good friend of mine. He's had his mk2 Scirocco sat up for just over a year and a half due to a carb problem when on the motorway / going up hills...anyway...one thing led to another...

 

 

Couldn't resist for the price. Put a fresh battery on it and with a bit of easy start, fired up first time!

 

Drove it off the drive and seems to run and idle fine :) Got it recovered to our unit and powerwashed all the grime from being sat up for a while.

The only things that need doing are brakes and a track rod end for the MOT. Need to replace the fuel filler neck too!

 

Anyway, this will most likely be my daily whilst I do up the Corrado!

[coullstar 0]

Cool, getting rare these days. Cant beat a silver Corrado IMO but then Im slightly biased.